White film after cleaning

So I'm dealing with a similar situation with my redwood deck. I wanted to clean my deck and bought/used Valspar Wood Cleaner at the recommendation of my local Lowe's. Again, I was just wanting to "clean" the deck after winter. Now I have white residue and discoloration in some spots. I just recently bought the place and do not know what product was used on the deck prior, but I am told that the white residue is a reaction from the previous stain to the cleaner. Is there a product you would recommend to remove the white residue and clean the wood so I can re stain and seal? Or would you recommend sanding vs applying some sort of stripping agent?

You need to remove this old coating fully. Best strip and pressure wash off what you can and then sand the rest off. Brightener after. This way you will have the best results with a new stain.

Thank you. So I live in Anchorage, Alaska and unfortunately none of my local stores carry the strippers you recommend (Restore A Deck, Defy, HD80, etc) and I haven't been able to find anyone online that will ship those products to AK. My local stores only carry Sherwin Williams, Behr, and Restore-X. Any suggestions?

I picked up Sherwin Williams Deck Stain Remover and Revive only because they said they would take it back if I wasn't satisfied. I applied the stripper to a section of my railing and followed up with the brightener. It removed most but not all of the previous stain. Should I reapply the stripper and brighten again or sand?

Strip off as much as you can and then sand the rest if needed. Brightener after.

How long should I wait for the wood to dry after stripping before sanding?

1-2 days.

1. I sanded the deck and was able to the previous stain off. Do I still need to apply a cleaner or do I only need to apply brightener?

2. I have to wait a few days to stain after I apply brightener due to rain; is there a certain amount of time that I need to stain after brightening?

3. I was thinking of doing a semi transparent stain on the deck but keeping the posts and railing the current solid stain. There are some spots on the railing that I wanted to touch up. Do I need to prep at all before going over a solid stain with the same stain?

1. Clean and brighten for best prep.

2. A couple of weeks.

3. Just pressure wash.

I rented a deck sander from Home Depot (Long Island, NY). I used between 60 - 120 grit sandpaper depending on rough the wood was and a plam sander for the railing. It should help remove some left-over stain. Good luck